1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to communication systems, and more particularly, to support distributed beacon transmission in a directional communication network.
2. Introduction
In order to address the issue of increasing bandwidth requirements that are demanded for wireless communications systems, different schemes are being developed to allow multiple user terminals to communicate by sharing the channel resources while achieving high data throughputs. Multiple Input or Multiple Output (MIMO) technology represents one such approach that has recently emerged as a popular technique for the next generation communication systems. MIMO technology has been adopted in several emerging wireless communications standards such as the Institute of Electrical Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard. IEEE 802.11 denotes a set of Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) air interface standards developed by the IEEE 802.11 committee for short-range communications (e.g., tens of meters to a few hundred meters). For example, 802.11 ad/ac/a/b/g/n.
Generally, wireless communications systems specified by the IEEE 802.11 standard have a central entity, such as an access point (AP)/point coordination function (PCF) that manages communications between different devices, also called stations (STAs). Having a central entity may simplify design of communication protocols. Further, although any device capable of transmitting a beacon signal may serve as an AP, for an AP to be effective it may have to have a good link quality to all STAs in a network. At high frequencies, where signal attenuation may be relatively severe, communications may be directional in nature and may use beamforming (e.g. beam training) to increase gains. As such, an AP may stratify the following responsibilities to be effective. The AP may have a large sector bound (e.g. a wide steering capability). The AP may have a large beamforming gain (e.g. multiple antennas). The AP may be mounted so that a line of sight path exists to most areas in a network, such as on a ceiling. The AP may use a steady power supply for periodic beacon transmissions and other management functions.
Mobile wireless communications devices (WCD) (e.g. laptops, smartphones, etc.) may have comparatively reduced capabilities to that of a traditional AP due to factors such as cost, power, form factor, etc. For example, antenna steering capability may be limited to a small sector bound, available power may be limited, location may be variable, etc. Even with these limitations, WCDs may be asked to perform as APs to form peer-to-peer networks for various purposes, such as side-loading, file sharing, etc. For example, WCDs may be asked to form peer-to-peer networks where no device may efficiently transmit to and receive from all other devices. Additionally, for example, WCDs may be asked to specify a distributed device discovery protocol that may allow a device to be associated with a peer-to-peer network of interest.